Volume 12: Yaguna Kotor Chapter 596: "Advent"
"You are asking for your own death... You will pay the price for your arrogance..." the black cardinal said sinisterly.
"This line is too old-fashioned. I suggest changing it next time... Oh, yes, there won't be a next time." Ke Lan mocked mercilessly.
The cardinal in black did not continue his verbal battle with Ke Lan. Instead, he stared at Ke Lan viciously, his upper and lower lips moving in a muttering manner.
Ke Lan listened carefully. Although the pronunciation of the black-robed cardinal's "pseudo-Alpha language" was a little unstandard, the general content could be barely discerned. The prayers he recited were basically the same as the content of the "Holy Word".
This form of sacrifice is a bit like the "word spirit" in the concept of mysticism. It doesn't matter whether the pronunciation is standard or not. It is equivalent to a key card. No matter how badly the surface of the card is damaged, as long as the information recorded inside is not incorrect, its function will not be affected.
And the "Holy Word" is also like a key, a key that can open "Pandora's Box".
On the contrary, the two pilots who had ignored Ke Lan turned their heads frequently after noticing that the cardinal in black began to recite the "Holy Word" - Ke Lan saw from the corner of his eye that both of them showed , as if they were extremely reluctant to stay in this place any longer.
"Is it that scary?" Ke Lan muttered to herself, "Shouldn't these hijackers be prepared to die? Why are they showing their cowardice at this moment?"
Just as he was thinking this, the black-robed cardinal suddenly fell to his knees with his whole body twitching, holding on to the ground with both hands, and began to wail -
"Not enough... not enough! The sacrifice... not enough!"
As he howled, his back suddenly tore open and a tentacle shot out like lightning, piercing the pilot sitting in the co-pilot seat and lifting him into the air.
The pilot's body shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even the Corrosion Seed that was parasitic in his body was not spared. Ke Lan watched as the Corrosion Seed struggled to escape from the container. Countless tiny tentacles tore through the pilot's skin and rushed out from the cracks...
But in the end, the strength of these tentacles' struggles became weaker and weaker, until they completely lost their vitality.
All the fresh flesh and blood were transported into the body of the black cardinal along the tentacle. As for the hollowed-out container, it was thrown aside.
"This black-robed cardinal is actually also a container?" Ke Lan's expression couldn't help but become serious - although his words just now were extremely arrogant, he had never really looked down on the other party... But even so, the other party still gave Ke Lan a big "surprise".
According to the information Ke Lan has obtained so far, how powerful the thing that can be summoned by the black cardinal's sacrificial ritual is probably determined by the quality of the vitality that the sacrificer offers to Him. If it is an old man who is about to die who recites the "Holy Word", it is estimated that only half of a rotten tentacle can be summoned. However, if it is a strengthened person or even a substitute for the prophet as a sacrifice, the thing summoned will be much more terrifying.
The black-robed cardinal in front of him had obviously regarded himself and the Seed of Corrosion in his body as a sacrifice - no, to be precise, the sacrifice should include the vitality of two Seeds of Corrosion.
The vitality of this biochemical monster is much stronger than that of humans...
"Not enough... still not enough!" After sucking a pilot dry, the cardinal screamed again... At this time, his face was already cracked, and black blood flowed down his jaw and neck. On the surface of his skin, blood bubbles kept swelling up and then bursting. Each bursting blood bubble would leave a festering wound, and a foul smell unique to the decay of a corpse kept emanating from him.
"Bang!"
A gunshot suddenly came from behind. Ke Lan immediately turned around and saw that the other driver had slumped in his seat. One of his arms hung limply from the armrest of the chair, and a "G55" pocket pistol slipped from his hand to the ground.
There was a bloody bullet hole on his right temple. The bullet that penetrated his brain ended his life in an instant.
It seemed that the process of his flesh and blood being absorbed by the Black Cardinal was too painful, so this guy simply chose to give himself a quick death by shooting himself in the head.
However, it was only the container that died. The seeds of corrosion in his body had entered a rapid transformation phase at this moment. The pilot's body suddenly swelled up, and the parasites were rapidly wriggling under the skin, as if they would break out of the body at any time.
"So...cowardly..." The black-robed cardinal said in a tone that sounded both a rebuke and a sarcasm. In an instant, the tentacle rolled up the body of the second pilot and pulled it forward.
As if dissatisfied with the low absorption efficiency of a single tentacle, a dozen tentacles shot out from the black cardinal's chest and pierced into the pilot's body.
Faintly, Ke Lan felt the cockpit shake slightly, and he immediately cast his eyes to the large screen in front of him - from this perspective, the Hercules transport plane flew out of the clouds and was falling diagonally downward, while the White Ridge Mountains in front of the route were rapidly enlarging...
"Damn!" Ke Lan immediately realized the problem - he didn't know whether the pilot committed suicide or the Cardinal in Black touched the joystick while dragging the body, pushing the nose of the plane down... Now the entire plane was diving towards the ground at an angle of nearly forty-five degrees!
If the automatic balancing system of the spherical cockpit had not been working, keeping the space inside the cabin at a relatively horizontal angle with the ground, Ke Lan and the Cardinal in Black would have already crashed into the large screens at the nose of the plane.
According to the current trend, within half a minute the transport plane will crash into a mountain, destroying the plane and killing everyone on board.
With the protection of living armor, Ke Lan's chances of escaping on his own are still very high, but the group of research institute experts in the cabin at the back and Lin Qiming and others will probably be buried with this transport plane.
Ke Lan rushed to the driver's seat, grabbed the joystick that was shaking slightly due to the loss of control, and lifted it up with force.
“Crack!”
Perhaps Ke Lan underestimated the power that the living armor could unleash, or perhaps he overestimated the strength of the joystick itself, and the entire joystick was pulled out by him along with the base!
Fortunately, the nose of the plane had been pulled up, temporarily avoiding the danger of crashing.
Throwing away the joystick in his hand, Ke Lan entered a few commands on the console, changing the driving mode of the transport plane to automatic cruise mode, and the destination coordinates were set in the airspace where "Yaguna Kotor" was located.
After doing all this, Ke Lan turned around and looked at the cardinal in black - the other party had almost "eaten" the body of the second pilot... So much flesh and blood was sucked into his body, causing his abdomen to swell like a big balloon, as if it would explode immediately if kicked.
In a sense, the current situation of the Cardinal in Black could indeed be regarded as a bomb that could explode at any time. The sacrificial ceremony had not yet ended, and if Ke Lan attacked at this time, it would also be regarded as interrupting the ceremony.
The process of this strange ritual is even more dangerous than the result... Ke Lan couldn't help but think of a special "use": if the black cardinal is used as a human (anti-harmony) bomb to launch a suicide attack, the effect may be more significant than directly sending the summoned thing into the battlefield.
The specific operation method is also very simple. Just give these black cardinals some explosives and tie them to their bodies - no, you don't even need to find prohibited items such as explosives. All you need is a knife. When the "prayer" is halfway through, stab the knife into the throat, and a "human (anti-harmony) bomb" with completely random power is born.
As long as you arrange a few more people, it is not difficult to win the "first prize".
Since the heretical sect was able to send such a team of hijackers into Yong'an Port without anyone noticing, and even swap them with the original crew members, why didn't the Prophet simply organize a group of Black Cardinals to blow up the Ark?
Is it because the Cardinal in Black has some unknown limitations, or is there something he wants on the Ark that he is afraid to take action?
"You...will...be...able...to...see...Him...soon..." The intermittent voice of the black-robed cardinal interrupted Ke Lan's thoughts. At this moment, his entire body had been severely decayed. He couldn't even maintain a standing posture. He could only rely on the support of the tentacles, half squatting and half kneeling there...but even the surface of these tentacles had begun to rot and fester.
"It seems that He has accepted your sacrifice." Ke Lan said softly, "You should die soon, right?"
"No... that is not death... my soul will return to His kingdom, and my consciousness will live forever..." The black cardinal said with great difficulty. It seemed that his vocal cords were on the verge of being scrapped.
"You're so old, do you still believe in the concept of soul? Tsk tsk tsk tsk..." Ke Lan shook her head, "It seems that the prophet has brainwashed you thoroughly."
"Foolish people!" The black-robed cardinal roared with his last bit of strength, "You... will never... believe... in things... that you have not... seen with your own eyes..."
"What about you? Have you seen it?"
"Of course! I have seen His kingdom... It is... the eternity of the universe... It is..."
The black cardinal stopped speaking abruptly before he could finish. His head drooped down, and black sticky blood flowed out from his seven orifices, dripping onto the ground in front of him.
The black-robed cardinal had already died, and the parasitic seeds of corrosion in his body had also lost their vitality, but Ke Lan could feel that a force that was countless times stronger than before was slowly awakening in his body.
"It seems... the thing summoned this time is an extraordinary guy." Ke Lan said to himself. He took two steps back and condensed a blood-red giant sword in his hand. After "creating" that blood-red giant shield, Ke Lan could already skillfully transform the living armor into the weapon he wanted.
However, what made him feel a little regretful was that he originally wanted to use the living armor to "imitate" a gun, but he found that the "bullet" could no longer maintain its original shape after leaving the chamber, and would only turn into a large drop of splashing blood-red liquid.
The living armor can only condense into shape when it is connected to his body. If it leaves his body, any object condensed by the living armor will return to its original liquid state and return to his body after a few seconds.
In other words, although this thing can be transformed into various weapons, it is limited to the scope of melee weapons.
Ke Lan didn't know what kind of weapon to choose for a moment, so he simply turned it into a standard-shaped mecha combat dagger - a dagger for a mecha would naturally become a giant sword in a human's hand.
He stared at the body of the black cardinal in front of him, not daring to slack off in the slightest - that strong sense of crisis seemed to have strangled Ke Lan's throat, making him feel as if he was having difficulty breathing, and his heart in his chest was beating wildly, pumping the blood in his arteries to his entire body.
Suddenly, Ke Lan heard a second heartbeat.
The heartbeat sound came from the other side, from the chest of the cardinal in black.
The heart that had already fallen silent began beating again.
Of course, Ke Lan would not think that the cardinal in black had been resurrected... As a sacrifice to the gods, every bit of life force in his body had been drained away. Even if there was a trace of consciousness left, the thing that "came back to life" with the help of this corpse was no longer the original cardinal in black.
The heartbeat was like a drumbeat, getting stronger and stronger. The corrupt body began to tremble. It struggled to stand up and raised its head.
A pair of dark eyes suddenly met Ke Lan's gaze. At this moment, Ke Lan's body shook violently, and the huge sword in his hand almost fell to the ground!
Although those eyes had no pupils and no focus, the moment it looked at him, the indescribable feeling of being watched that he had felt when he used the "Holy Word" for the first time suddenly reappeared in Ke Lan's perception!
Could it be that what is in this body now... is part of His consciousness?
The "great god" mentioned by the Alpha civilization and the heretical sects has personally descended upon the body of this black-robed cardinal?
But soon, this suffocating feeling of being watched disappeared. If converted into real time, it was only less than one tenth of a second in total.
He just glanced at the planet casually...but he used the eyes of the sacrificer.
